Grilling after Smoking

Oh, and just so we warned you, never practice a first time of anything on a big day. You really need to do it before hard to guarantee success.

First, what smoker are you using? If you can get to 275 no need to grill.

If you're grilling, it's not a time it a temp you need to pull it at. Don't put it on more than about a med high (depends on your grill)If you're going to all the trouble to smoke it, you don't want to cook it much more on the grill.

Pull the turkey off early (say 140-150) in the breast and then MONITOR the temp while it's on the grill until it hits 155 in the breast. Because the temp on the grill will be high, the carry over will be more also, that's why the 155.

Thanks, SmokinOkie. I have an 009. This will be a practice run. I think for T-Day I am going to deep fry one. Wanted to try this out. I think I'll take it to 140 in the smoker, then transfer to the grill until 155, if that is the "done" temperature. I have to check again. I have a Weber gas grill.

If you are doing it on the grill for finishing, make sure you check the temp in several areas, especially the dark meat.

Because of family commitments, we had to do Thanksgiving on Saturday. I did two turkeys. One I brined and smoked in my Amerique and one I injected marinade and fried in my Big Easy oiless fryer. A couple of things I learned:

1) EVERYONE liked the smoked turkey better than the fried turkey.

2) Although I always had success cooking my turkeys to 170 degrees with the probe in the breast, this time I took them out at 165 degrees after reading various suggestions from several posts. That was a mistake. The white meat was excellent but the dark meat was not cooked like all of us like it. From now on, I will never take the turkey out before I hit 170 in the breast. At that breast temp, the dark meat has always been perfect in the past and the white meat has been very moist and tender, especially the brined turkeys.

I hope you all have an EXCELLENT Thanksgiving!!!